Articulatory coordination in vowel--consonant--vowel utterances (V=/i a/,
C=/p b/) was studied in 5 Swedish, 3 English, 2 German, and 3 French speakers.
Electropalatographic records showed that the amount of transconsonantal V-to-V
coarticulation was greater in German and French than in Swedish and English. For
the symmetrical utterances /ipi/ and /ibi/, the EPG patterns displayed a marked
``trough'' (a temporary reduction of tongue height) associated with the stop
closure in the Swedish and English, but not in the German and French speakers;
the Swedish and English trough patterns were, however, differently timed. These
observations are consistent with dynamic vowel features characteristic of the
respective languages. In a second experiment, using a wider voice onset time
range, three Swedish speakers produced words containing CV syllables (C=/p b t d
k g/, V=/i (slashed oh) a (open aye) u/). VOT was controlled in terms of
voicing, stress, word length, and position in the word. Formant data showed that
the amount of F[inf 2] locus-to-target assimilation decreased as a function of
voicing lag. This suggests that aerodynamic factors associated with aspiration
affect anticipatory coarticulation patterns; specifically, it may affect trough
patterns in symmetrical VCVs.